Brake Help!!!

[Joes69c10]

Alright guys i have a '82 GMC 3/4 ton truck and the front right brake caliber keeps hanging up on me. What I mean is It'll keep pressure applied to it when the other brakes are fully released I've bled the system continusely, replaced the caliber twice. Any ideas would sure be appreciated, because I need this truck for yard chores and so on. Thanks in advance JOE

[Ivan D.]

it ain't the caliper, it's the hose giving you hard time - with age these tend to swell and collapse internally, thus blocking the passage way for the brake fluid. When pressure is applied it can reach over 1500psi so there's no way that blockage resists it, and that pressure gets to the caliper and yer brake works fine. When you take yer foot of the brake most of that pressure bleeds back to the master cylinder, however due to the blockage some of it remains in the caliper thus hanging yer brake. Replace both front hoses, it's a cheap insurance against fire. Expect to spend around $35-40 if you do it yerself.

[Joes69c10]

thanks Ivan first i just thought it was the caliber, put a reman. one on and this still happened so I took it back and got a new one still happened. No joke about the fire in 2 weeks I ruined the right side brake pads. I'll do it myself, but how hard is the job? Never replaced lines before. I don't like other people working on my brakes, but on the other hand if I did it would already have been fixed. thanks for the feed back. JOE

[Ivan D.]

it's a fairly easy job, but it being an old truck the lines may have rusted to the hoses, so you might need to run new lines. Then there's the whole issue of lines frozen in the proportioning valve... my lines were so bad the cracked when I laid on the brakes to test my hydro-boost setup, I replaced them and bypassed the proportioning valve completely - my front line comes off from the master cylinder, goes down to a T-ee, then splits in two for the two front brakes. The rear line comes from the cylinder, and goes straight back to the rear brakes, however I blew it up long time ago so I haven't really tested it for locking up and stuff. I do have a manual proportioning (for a race car) to install there when I get to it, which may be even tomorrow!

[Joes69c10]

I'll check it out and see what all I'll have to do. Thanks for the feedback. see ya. JOE

[magnethead]

yea mine had a collapsed line on the right front.

[Mickey_D]

When doing the hoses, it's not always readily apparent that there are C-clips on them. They almost look like a part of the bracket, but they aren't. And trying to separate the lines without removing those clips is almost impossible.

The C-clips are removed by just grabbing them with a pair of pliers and pulling radially away from the axis of the center of the brake line.

[Ivan D.]

these C-clips actually hold the hose in place in the frame, they serve as a back support when you start tightening the big sheetmetal nut on the inside of the frame. Removing the C-clips allows the hose to sink in through the frame, thus making the fitting that holds the line to the hose more accessible.